Askar 160APO Overview

The Askar 160APO has a 30% larger effective aperture area than the 140APO, and the limiting magnitude can reach 12.79.

Optical Design

The Askar 160APO adopts a triplet air-spaced APO lens design, including one piece of ED glass. ED glass, also known as low-dispersion glass, is a type of optical glass specifically designed to reduce chromatic aberration.

The Askar APO series employs special optical designs and multiple lens elements to correct chromatic aberration, naturally providing higher quality object details and color accuracy.

In the refractor's element structure, increasing the number of lens elements and designing lens combinations can effectively improve chromatic aberration correction. However, this also means increased production costs and design complexity.

Features for Astrophotography

The retractable design of the dew shield, along with the enlarged locking screw, provide easy adjustments if needed. The dew shield serves the purpose of protecting the lens from the impact of external and internal light along with protecting the lens itself.

The Askar 160APO has an extended 316mm handle with a special slot design, making it also a base for installing a finderscope or guidescope.

The dovetail mounting plate of the Askar 160APO is the standard Losmandy dovetail plate, which is compatible with most equatorial mounts and saddles on the market. The dovetail plate is designed with multiple holes, which makes it easy to adjust the position. The length of the dovetail plate is 400mm, which makes it more convenient for balancing on the mount.

It is worth mentioning that the rear lens tube of the Askar 160APO has an integrated retractable design. We strengthened the overall stability to ensure that the alignment of the optical axis will not be affected when the tube is extended, thus guaranteeing the quality of the image. The ajustable tube also features a captain's wheel-style locking ring that makes it easy to loosen or tighten.

The entire Askar 160APO tube is crafted using high-quality CNC machining with anodized and painted surfaces. The orange accents on the ivory-white tube add a bright and eye-catching touch, presenting a stylish and elegant overall appearance.

The focuser interface at the rear comes with a 1.25" / 2" adapter, so the 160APO can easily achieve focus when connected to 1.25" or 2" diagonals or various eyepieces. Because of the retractable lens tube design, it can also be attached to a binoviewer for visual observation.

3.5-inch Focuser

The Askar 160APO is equipped with a large rigid 3.5" dual-speed rack and pinion focuser which is compatible with most motorized focusers on the market. There is a high-precision scale on the focuser's 100mm of travel. The entire focuser barrel is CNC machined with a internal design that reduces reflections, glare and stray light. It is painted matte black.

There are two finder bases on both sides of the focuser, which not only eliminates the need for disassembling when changing the position of the finder scope but also provides additional mounting positions for other astronomical accessories.

The rear of the focuser features a 360° high-precision rotator with precise scales for convenient adjustment and saving of the rotation angles. It is also equipped with an enlarged rotator locking screw that can be easily secured even under high loads.

Size & Weight

As a large aperture, long focal ratio telescope, the Askar 160APO was designed with portability in mind. Due to the retractable lens tube design, the shortest overall length is only 883mm, the net weight is 11.4 kg, and the gross weight is 13.6 kg (including the handle, tube ring, and dovetail plate).

The thumb screws enable easy opening and locking of the rings. Meanwhile, the base of the rings is heightened, providing more space between the tube and mount.

Askar 160 APO Specifications

• Aperture Size: 160mm
• Focal Length: 1120mm
• Focal Ratio: f/7
• Optical Design: Triplet air-spaced APO (including one ED glass element)
• Total tube length:
  • 883mm (when dew shield is contracted）
  • 996mm (when dew shield is extended）
• The length of the rear retractable lens tube: 115mm
• OTA Weight: 25.13lbs (11.4kg)
• Gross Weight (including tube ring and dovetail plate): 30 lbs (13.6kg)
• Rear-end thread type: 2"/1.25" visual adapters